Workout of the Day

Jan 28

A Little Bit Sweeter

We’re just over one week into the Whole Life Challenge, and I am again reminded of the enormous teaching power of making simple, lifestyle-wide changes for a period of time. My lesson today came in the form of a handful of blackberries.

I grabbed some blackberries from the fridge as a part of a snack this afternoon and was a bit shocked as I popped a few in my mouth: “wow, these are sweet!” They tasted like candy -- far sweeter than usual. I thought perhaps they might just be particularly ripe, and so tried a few from another carton that was less ripe -- still juicy sweet. A few strawberries from the fridge provided the same result. My taste buds have changed.

I stopped consuming any form of added sugar or sweetener a few days before the start of the Whole Life Challenge. This means it’s been roughly 10 days since I’ve had any sort of “sweet” -- candy, pastry, honey, chocolate, etc. -- and even in such a short time I’ve already had my tastes change. Less than two weeks of no added sugar, and already everything is a little bit sweeter. This shouldn’t be surprising, honestly; we see it occur in other contexts all the time. Start getting up early every morning and “early” doesn’t feel quite so early after just a week or two. Start training running daily and before long your body will adapt so that your evening jog doesn’t feel nearly so laborious as it did the first day. The same happens with our tastes and our eating habits. What you eat, particularly with foods that are particularly sweet, salty, rich, etc. defines your tastes. Trickle in high-sweetness foods on a regular basis (this can be everything from cupcakes to sweetened coffee beverages to sugar-filled barbeque sauces) and it should be no surprise that your tolerance for sweetness increases, and it takes more and more to get that sweetness satisfaction.

Your tastes, and your condition in general, are defined by your behaviors. Perhaps you feel as if you couldn’t possibly eat healthfully and still be satisfied, because all of that health food just tastes so bland or bitter or unsatisfying. But perhaps you’re really just telling yourself stories about why you can’t, because instead of taking on the responsibility of having control over your condition, you’d rather your condition have control over you.

Your excuses about why you “can’t” are meaningless. Change is in your hands.